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It’s no secret that SEO can get complicated. Google uses hundreds of different ranking factors and is constantly making updates to how they rank websites, so it can be tough to keep up. Being able to differentiate between advanced SEO tips and the most essential tips for beginners is getting more complicated, but it doesn’t have to be too overwhelming if you start small.

3 SEO Aspects Beginners Tend to Miss

There are quite a few different SEO tactics that would be considered “basic” or crucial for beginners to understand, but below lists three of the most important methods that are often forgotten amidst all of the other, major SEO basics you read about today:

Focus on your content and link internally and to authoritative sources.

In 2015 people are getting a little bit nervous about link building, but paying attention to the links on your website is incredibly important. Google wants to see two things that you can improve with your linking: First, you want to have great navigation. Linking internally within your content is a great way to improve your navigation and send people to other relevant pages of your website. It’s great for Google, but it’s also great for your time-on-site numbers.

Second, Google wants to see that you are an authority. There are a few different factors that go into this, but one thing you can do is make sure you’re only linking back to authoritative sources. Show that you are well versed in your industry and are sending your reader’s to quality sources for more information by linking externally to some of the top publishers.

Use a responsive web design.

A responsive web design is crucial now that tablets and mobile have exploded onto the scene. According to comScore, 4 out of 5 consumers use smartphones to shop. A responsive web design will ensure that your website can be read easily on any size screen by changing sizes and moving content and images around correctly, so this is an absolute must.

Keyword research matters for finding search trends and understanding audience.

Another thing that concerns many marketers is keyword research. Google has made it very clear that link building is not acceptable and links should be natural, not for SEO purposes. However, that doesn’t mean that keyword research is dead. You don’t need to research keywords in order to find anchor text for your links—you can use this tactic to gain insight into what your audience is searching for and wanting to read.

Tools like the Google AdWordsKeyword Planner can help you see what is popular in your industry. Optimize your content around some of these terms to help your content move to the top and help you stay connected with your community.

A Few Extra Tips: Local SEO and Social Media Management

While the three tips mentioned above are often forgotten when you’re a beginner, there are two major aspects of SEO that cannot go unmentioned: Local SEO and social media.

First, local SEO. Local SEO means making sure you have all of your local pages in place so that you show up more often for local search queries. These are some of the most targeted queries and therefore see the highest conversion rates; so local SEO must be added to the list. Visit this article to learn more about the basics of local SEO.

Second, social medi. In many companies, social media efforts fall under the SEO department’s responsibilities. Google has not made any official announcement that social media activity factors into their ranking algorithm, but many speculate that this will be the case in the future, particularly when it comes to Google+ (if you don’t have a Google+ yet, now is the time to get started). Regardless, we can’t deny that social media has many benefits on its own. You can visit here to read a full article about some of the essential social media methods.

Are there any SEO tactics that you think get pushed to the side for beginners? Let us know your experience and your thoughts in the comment section below.